Jarric

Aww, she's so cute! I will look after her. Aww, I watched the whole video and that was really quite touching. Welcome aboard Slimey!

I don't know what I'm signing up for, but I'm in! Here's to the middle!

I can't work out if that means she'd be annoyed at you drinking, or that she'd drink you under the table of you drank with her Also, maybe not a drinking song as such, but a cracker nonetheless:

I don't remember ever watching that show, but as soon as I saw the picture it triggered something buried in the back of my brain I'm not sure why I'm the new @Raxie, but I'll take it as a compliment! And you should get back to drawing. I will if you will?

Jarric wanders into the tavern and, with unerring consistency, order the drink that the barman has already poured for him. Pint of the black stuff, barkeep Oh, and @Harriet, I have nothing useful to add on your question, but I really like your unicorn drawing.

Jarric's got worms When I was little, probably 6 or 7 years old, I told my parents that my best friend had Worms. They, having not heard of this new computer game, were rather concerned until I managed to explain it to them. Anyway, I upgraded my computer over the weekend (with no small amount of help from @Mr_Willes and @jonfirestar), and finally got round to playing Worms W.M.D. In honour of that, and because I feel like I need some aggression and comedy violence to push me through this next challenge, I'll be running a Worms theme this time round. I need your help with this. Each of my goals will be a worm, and the aim of the challenge if to finish without killing any of my own worms. I would like you to suggest names for my worms (preferably names that don't make me want to kill them). Bonus points if you include a picture of your worm that I can include in updates. @Starpuck @deftona @sarakingdom @DarK_RaideR @WhiteGhost and @cn3wton have named my worms, and now I will do my best to keep these precious guys alive! Previously on Jarric's challenge... Spoilered for size: In addition to my main goals for the year, I've got a race coming up on 4th July. Nuclear Oblivion to be exact, which is a minimum of 2 laps of the 12km Nuclear Rush obstacle course, known for fantastic obstacles, ludicrously sticky mud, and far too many trenches. I've done it in the past and felt thoroughly defeated by the end, so this time I want to defeat the race instead. I don't have a race strategy for that as yet, so far the plan is just go hard for 2 laps and see how I feel, but in the meantime my training will be based around doing the best I can on 4th July. I'll have a team of 6 worms, and each of my goals will be tied to a worm. Worms have 175hp, and I can do a maximum of 70hp of damage per week (or 10hp per day) if I fail my goals. Each goal will also be worth £35 of real money. For the percentage of my goal I complete, I get to spend that money on whatever I like. For the failure percentage I put the money as an overpayment on my mortgage. This means that I'm wagering £210 on myself this challenge. Money is on the total percentage, so whilst my worms could die half way through the challenge, I could still get to keep a little bit of bread if I don't 100% fail. Don't Wormy, Be Happy ('Wormy' for short) - workout 10 times per week - 15XP This one's simple enough (if not that easy), just hit 10 workouts each week. The plan for that is Crossfit MWF, running TTSS, handstand practice and hangboarding TT (after my weekday runs) and bouldering on a Sunday. There's a couple of cases where this will change a bit. Sunday of week 1 I'm going on a running training thing called "run smart - run efficient" which should be fun, so that week bouldering will have to be Saturday. Saturday of week 2 I have an obstacle training session, so I'll probably do a short run before that, move my long run to Sunday that week, and skip bouldering. Wormintrude - cut calories - 15XP I was initially planning quite an aggressive calorie cut, but as I've got a race fairly soon I'm going to take it a bit easier. The plan is to average 2,520 calories per day, for a total of 17,640 per week. That should be around a 20% deficit, based on some somewhat dodgy maths. I also plan to focus on making sure I get enough protein, but I won't be making a certain number a requirement for now. I can split calories up however I like - at the moment I'm thinking 5 days at 2,300 and the remaining 2 at 3,070, but we'll play it by ear and see what fits in with my routine. Slimey - unpack boxes - 5XP This is a really easy one, just for me to keep some momentum with sorting out the house - unpack at least 1 box every week. If I achieve that, my new home will look a lot nicer by the end of this challenge. My hope is that one box will lead to another, and I'll do more. Tiberius (the muse worm) - draw two things - 5XP I want to get back into drawing. I don't really know where I'll find time to do that right now, but I'm certain I can find time for a couple of short drawing sessions per week. So that's the challenge, two drawing sessions per week, doesn't matter how long they are or what I draw. I might do some of the #MerMay prompts, or maybe some random stuff, or work on a thing for a D&D scenario I want to write, it really doesn't matter. Sir Reginald - brush my teeth - 5XP I've got a good routine of brushing my teeth every morning when I shower. I don't have a good routine of brushing before bed, and that needs to change. This is a goal that I keep repeating, and is either really easy or incredibly hard, but it needs to be a priority because I'd quite like my remaining teeth to stay in my head, thank you very much. William - check in daily - 5XP This worked really well last challenge, in that when I checked in I focussed better on my goals, and the check-in goal helped to draw me back here if I missed a couple of days. It wasn't perfect, but it helped. All this needs is for me to write a single word on my thread, and I'll count it as a success. So please, send me some names for my 6 worms. Bonus points if you also include a little picture of your worm to go with it. Let's do this!

Massive post, because I didn't post my March challenge wrap-up until after the April challenge... Challenge Wrap-Up Lets start with the goals, and then I'll talk about what actually happened at the end. Run 116 miles - 10XP Reveal hidden contents I hit 61.07/116 miles, so 52.6% of my mileage. That 5XP earned, £26.32 into my new computer fund, and £23.68 into overpaying my mortgage. I didn't really factor in here that I would spend my weekends working on my new house rather than running. I don't regret that choice, the house needs doing, but I wonder if I could have planned around it better. Then again I also got ill (more on that to follow), which is responsible for some of the missed miles. Foam rolling - 10XP (+5XP bonus) Reveal hidden contents Lol no. 3/15 sessions done for the challenge, so 2XP earned, £10 to my new computer fund, and £40 overpayment on my mortgage. More on this to follow. Teeth - 10XP Reveal hidden contents Another lol no. 5/35 days fully done, so only 1XP earned, £7.14 to my new computer fund, and £42.86 overpayment on my mortgage. More on this to follow too. Protein - 5XP Reveal hidden contents Hey, this one went ok! 31/35 days completed, with only a couple where I forgot. That nets me 4XP and £44.29 into my new computer fund, with £5.71 going into mortgage overpayment. Todo List - 10XP Reveal hidden contents Replace locks front and back Fit cat flap Get wall ties checked - agreed quote, booked for June Get roof leak fixed - got a price, booking in for when the weather gets warmer Contact damp proofing people the see if any guarantees in place - e-mailed, apparently they didn't do the work? Contact structural engineer to see if structural works were done - e-mailed, got what little information they had Paint living room - walls done, woodwork in progress Paint bedroom - walls done, woodwork in progress Paint hall and stairs - pushing back until after we move in Paint kitchen - pushing back until after we move in Carpet bedroom - all booked in for 31st March Clean remaining carpets Sort wardrobes (doors and floor storage) Deep clean kitchen - made a start Get gas safety checked Get electrics safety checked - Remedial work also done Fit new lights in living room Replace lightbulbs throughout - bulbs done, want to replace fittings in top room Get internet installed - Booked, happens when we move in Run ethernet cable to top room - parts ordered, doing at the weekend Fit shelves in living room - done, just need to put them back up when painted Sort workout gear storage Buy downstairs sofa Buy upstairs sofa bed - bought it, just got to work out how to get the damn thing up the stairs! Put balustrade in top room Gut outhouse and decide on re-fit plan - some bits ripped out; this will take a while! Fit fire alarms - alarms in house, will fit as ceilings are painted (living room and both bedrooms done) Get woodworm looked at Fix bathroom window - replaced hinges, but they don't fit well; trying to work out solution Install new pullup bar Install curtain rails Install blind in top room So I started with 25 things on this list, and ended up with 32! I have at least done 11.5 of them, so progress is being made. This was a bit less of a SMART goal, but I'll give myself 5XP here. It's been a weird few weeks. Week 3 I was off work to sort the house out, and we spent a solid few days really getting stuff done, which was good. With the sheer amount of work and just general tiredness I didn't really stick with my goals that I had time for, and I really didn't have a great deal of time for my running goal. At the end of week 3/beginning of week 4 I got ill, both physically and mentally. I can't fully define how much of this was me feeling really anxious and awful because I was ill, and how much was me being so anxious that I was making myself physically sick. I do know that after a week of feeling truly awful I realised that the tightness in my chest felt a bit like an allergic reaction, and that it seems to have got a lot better since I started taking hayfever medication. I also know that I'm under a lot of pressure at work as we near the end of the financial year, and I'm really stressed about moving house, and so I feel like stress is a pretty natural reaction to that. I ended up feeling much worse than any natural reaction though, it was cripplingly bad and it's taken me a couple of weeks to feel like I'm coming out the other side. Overall then, this has been a tough challenge, but I'm very happy to say it's one I've got through. I've spent a lot of time in my own head, but I feel like I've grown a little from that, and despite the massive todo list I have achieved quite a lot with the new house. Next challenge I'll be doing only the most basic goals (probably protein and teeth brushing), focussing very much on my house move, and accepting that some parts of my life need to be on hold for just a couple more weeks. Total score: Success - money into computer fund: £87.75 Failures - money into mortgage overpayment: £112.25 As luck would have it I'm getting a £450 bonus from work, so my new computer fund will actually sit at £537.75 despite this not being the best challenge. I'll deal with buying some new stuff when I've got over moving house! The XP from this challenge is also enough for me to level up. I'm not sure if that feels very fitting or very ironic - lets say fitting. April challenge wrap up Well this one was a difficult one, but that's no surprise with the house move, the end of the financial year, and just the general stress of current life. Let's start with goals 1 - Move daily - 15XP This could be a workout, it could be packing and moving boxes of stuff, it could be hanging curtain rails or painting ceilings. Everything counts, but this is important because if I move more I feel better. I'd like as to run as much as possible as part of this, as I'm low on mileage for the year so far. I feel like this went pretty well overall. I lost a couple of days around moving house, a couple of days when I went on a one night holiday with some mates, and the last couple of days of the challenge focusing on upgrading/fixing my computer. Otherwise a pretty good run. I've also signed up for some events now, so next challenge will be more intense on the fitness and focussed on getting match fit for those. Score: 29/35 days, 12XP earned, £41.43 to my treats fund and £8.57 to my mortgage account. 2 - Protein shake daily - 10XP This is just one of these easy habits which lead to me largely taking care of my nutrition. Another goal that went pretty well. The days I missed were weekend days in weeks 4 and 5, and that really goes to show that my interest in the challenge was waning a bit. I'm in a routine where it's hard to miss weekdays, but it takes a little conscious thought to remember this on weekends. Next challenge I'll be dialling in my nutrition more, and looking to lose a bit of weight so I have less to carry round on course. Score: 30/35 days, 8XP earned, £42.86 to my treats fund and £7.14 to my mortgage account. 3 - Brush teeth daily - 10XP This is something I'm bad at, and much worse when I'm tired or stressed. Having it as a goal and keeping myself accountable may help. SO this worked until it didn't. Weeks 1 and 2 were great and then I just dropped off with it, through lack of enthusiasm and no small amount of stress. This goal stays until I can consistently get it right. I also need to book a dentist appointment; that should spur me on a bit! Score: 13.5/35, 3XP earned, £19.29 to my treats fund and £30.71 to my mortgage account. 4 - One word daily - 10XP This place is good for me, so I intend to post here every day. I acknowledge that I'll have very little time or energy to do so, so all I need to hit this goal is to post one word on this thread. This was a good idea for a goal. Some days I hit it and some days I didn't, but in general it kept me accountable, and on the days I did come here I thought about my other goals more. The only trouble was that without interacting with others' threads as much as I liked, there wasn't a lot of activity on my own thread, and as a result I was less mindful of engaging with it. I think that's a symptom of the new forum layout too, as it's much easier for a thread to get lost in amongst all of the others. Score: 21/35, 6XP earned, £30 to my treats fund and £20 to my mortgage account. Final thoughts Overall I think I did pretty well this month, given a lot of stressful things going on. Now that I've got a race booked in I'm hoping it will light a fire under my arse for the next challenge, and I can focus on gaining again instead of maintaining. I wagered £200 on my goals this challenge, and I walk away with £133.58. The remaining £66.42 will be paid as an overpayment on my mortgage. I'll also be awarding myself 100XP for fully moving in to my new house, because buying my first place fully deserves a level up. That puts me up to level 15 at the end of this challenge. 2021 Goal Update Part 1 - Make a House a Home Well I own a house now, and it's half decorated and half unboxed. I need to keep this a focus as now I've done the emergency stuff it'll become easier to let everything else slip, so I need to be mindful of planning my goals around home improvement. Part 2 - bragging rights and party tricks My mileage for the year so far: January: 109.39 February: 83.37 March: 42.46 April: 57.56 I need to be averaging 100 miles per month, so you can see I'm way behind here. I didn't account for the impact moving house would have on my weekends, which is when a lot of my mileage happens. I'm less than a quarter of a way to my goal of 1,202 miles after a third of the year. Or, to put it another way, I now need to average 114 miles per month to get there. So much more consistency needed, and I probably need to think about increasing my mileage a little too. On my other goals, I'm back at Crossfit which should help my muscle ups and handwalking. I'm going to keep practising handstand holds at home. Not sure what the plan should be for single leg squats right now, or what I want to add to the list. Part 3 - create stuff I've not been doing any of this thanks to the move and being really busy. Now is the time to get back on it I think, so I need an appropriate goal next challenge.

Challenge wrap up Well this one was a difficult one, but that's no surprise with the house move, the end of the financial year, and just the general stress of current life. Let's start with goals 1 - Move daily - 15XP This could be a workout, it could be packing and moving boxes of stuff, it could be hanging curtain rails or painting ceilings. Everything counts, but this is important because if I move more I feel better. I'd like as to run as much as possible as part of this, as I'm low on mileage for the year so far. I feel like this went pretty well overall. I lost a couple of days around moving house, a couple of days when I went on a one night holiday with some mates, and the last couple of days of the challenge focusing on upgrading/fixing my computer. Otherwise a pretty good run. I've also signed up for some events now, so next challenge will be more intense on the fitness and focussed on getting match fit for those. Score: 29/35 days, 12XP earned, £41.43 to my treats fund and £8.57 to my mortgage account. 2 - Protein shake daily - 10XP This is just one of these easy habits which lead to me largely taking care of my nutrition. Another goal that went pretty well. The days I missed were weekend days in weeks 4 and 5, and that really goes to show that my interest in the challenge was waning a bit. I'm in a routine where it's hard to miss weekdays, but it takes a little conscious thought to remember this on weekends. Next challenge I'll be dialling in my nutrition more, and looking to lose a bit of weight so I have less to carry round on course. Score: 30/35 days, 8XP earned, £42.86 to my treats fund and £7.14 to my mortgage account. 3 - Brush teeth daily - 10XP This is something I'm bad at, and much worse when I'm tired or stressed. Having it as a goal and keeping myself accountable may help. SO this worked until it didn't. Weeks 1 and 2 were great and then I just dropped off with it, through lack of enthusiasm and no small amount of stress. This goal stays until I can consistently get it right. I also need to book a dentist appointment; that should spur me on a bit! Score: 13.5/35, 3XP earned, £19.29 to my treats fund and £30.71 to my mortgage account. 4 - One word daily - 10XP This place is good for me, so I intend to post here every day. I acknowledge that I'll have very little time or energy to do so, so all I need to hit this goal is to post one word on this thread. This was a good idea for a goal. Some days I hit it and some days I didn't, but in general it kept me accountable, and on the days I did come here I thought about my other goals more. The only trouble was that without interacting with others' threads as much as I liked, there wasn't a lot of activity on my own thread, and as a result I was less mindful of engaging with it. I think that's a symptom of the new forum layout too, as it's much easier for a thread to get lost in amongst all of the others. Score: 21/35, 6XP earned, £30 to my treats fund and £20 to my mortgage account. Final thoughts Overall I think I did pretty well this month, given a lot of stressful things going on. Now that I've got a race booked in I'm hoping it will light a fire under my arse for the next challenge, and I can focus on gaining again instead of maintaining. I wagered £200 on my goals this challenge, and I walk away with £133.58. The remaining £66.42 will be paid as an overpayment on my mortgage. I'll also be awarding myself 100XP for fully moving in to my new house, because buying my first place fully deserves a level up. That puts me up to level 15 at the end of this challenge. 2021 Goal Update Part 1 - Make a House a Home Well I own a house now, and it's half decorated and half unboxed. I need to keep this a focus as now I've done the emergency stuff it'll become easier to let everything else slip, so I need to be mindful of planning my goals around home improvement. Part 2 - bragging rights and party tricks My mileage for the year so far: January: 109.39 February: 83.37 March: 42.46 April: 57.56 I need to be averaging 100 miles per month, so you can see I'm way behind here. I didn't account for the impact moving house would have on my weekends, which is when a lot of my mileage happens. I'm less than a quarter of a way to my goal of 1,202 miles after a third of the year. Or, to put it another way, I now need to average 114 miles per month to get there. So much more consistency needed, and I probably need to think about increasing my mileage a little too. On my other goals, I'm back at Crossfit which should help my muscle ups and handwalking. I'm going to keep practising handstand holds at home. Not sure what the plan should be for single leg squats right now, or what I want to add to the list. Part 3 - create stuff I've not been doing any of this thanks to the move and being really busy. Now is the time to get back on it I think, so I need an appropriate goal next challenge.

Badass challenge as always @Rurik Harrgath, looking forward to it. I need some of that energy for my next one I think...

You've got this. One day at a time, you've got this.

It makes more sense, but it's less funny Sounds like a great weekend mate - hope you have fun!

Man, things are busy right now. Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit included 50 pullups for time. Took me 5:23, but I think I went far too conservative - next time the goal is sub 5 minutes. Work is mad. I'll get there (I hope). Want to book some races too; it would help to have more to look forward to.

Hope the recovery's going well Terra. You stick with that PT, and kick its butt right back!

You have a vaccination option called 'le prik'? I assume that doesn't mean what it looks like it means?

I don't know what to put in an update right now, but for goal purposes, this is an update. Work's been mega busy, protein has been happening, teeth not so much. Questing Time is on tonight, which will be nice. Tempted to get some beers to go with it.

Yeah, with that kind of a margin it shouldn't be a problem to estimate it a bit! I like to try and be exact with calories in, that's just the way my mind works, but calorie burn is damn near impossible to get accurate outside of a lab.

Yesterday was a good day - ticked off my check-in, my workout, and my protein (though teeth still not done). Crossfit was first thing, starting with squats. They felt a bit janky and a bit rubbish to be honest, but I still hit 92.5kg (~204#) for 3 reps, 82.5x5 and 75x7. That's a 2.5kg improvement on last time for each one, though I feel like if I was feeling better I'd be pushing for more. After that we had an 8-minute AMQRAP (as many quality rounds as possible) of 2 chinups, 4 box pistol squats, and 6 lateral ball slams. Kinda wish I'd done the chinups weighted, but I didn't want to faff with equipment in such a short workout. Pistol squats are coming along fine though. Work was mega busy. I've been looking at some productivity stuff @DarK_RaideR linked on his thread, and I'm now trying to work out if I can make it work for me. It's certainly worth a go, as I keep getting derailed by things. In the evening I cooked a stew with the leftover roast turkey thigh from our Sunday roast, and WW and I chilled in front of the TV doing not much of anything. * * * THe other thing I'm idly thinking about is going for a calorie cut next challenge. I'm never sure when it's time to focus on strength gains and when it's time to cut, but I can see my body fat increasing so I think now may be cutting time?

Amazing job on your first week man, I see you're crushing all the goals! It's getting me inspired to start counting calories again next challenge. I forgot about these guys, cracking song! I'll have to listen to some Dead South when I get home... I love this

I probably wouldn't have ended up playing either if it weren't for you mate. Actually, thinking about it, I definitely wouldn't have because I bought them on GOG, and you introduced me to that site. Not to mention you introducing me to Planescape in the first place ❤️

Ok, I've been well out of touch here, and the rest of my goals have been equally poor over the last week. But I've got money riding on this challenge, so it's time to get back on it and have a good week 5 to finish! Despite the lack of hitting goals, I've had a fun weekend. I went up to Sheffield to watch the snooker on Friday - it's about 220 miles from me so by far the further I've been from home since before the pandemic. It was really amazing to just go away with Hopalong and The Captain, chill out together, go to the pub, and generally feel like things are slightly normal. We drove home Saturday morning, and then I spent most of the weekend either playing Planescape: Torment, or watching WW play the original Baldur's Gate. I did go climbing on Sunday morning, and unpacked a couple more boxes, but mostly time was spent chilling out.

Very grateful to have you as a player mate - always good to have some goblin chaos in my life!

Yesterday was a good day. Went for my long run and felt surprisingly strong. I go out for 3 hours and usually get 13-14 miles, but I got over 15 miles yesterday. I just felt like a could push a bit harder at the start, and it worked out. In the afternoon we unpacked some boxes. I cooked a Bolognese type pasta for dinner with beef, onions, mushrooms, leek, courgette, plum tomatoes, and garlic. It was rather good. I watched WW play some of the original Baldur's Gate game and went to bed at a fairly reasonable time. Again all goals were ticked off except for teeth

I was about to answer your first question by using your second question as an example, and I saw you beat me to it In English we have the phrase 'robin redbreast', but as you say the breast feathers are clearly orange. That's because the colour 'orange' is actually quite a recent addition to the English language. People started using the word orange to describe things that were a similar colour to the fruit, after the fruit was introduced to Europe from India, but in Old and Middle English (and most other European languages, as per your German example) you would have described that colour as red, or brown, or reddy-brown or reddy-yellow maybe. So that's why we say robin's have red breasts, that cats are ginger, and people with orange hair are either ginger or redheads. ETA source (actually a very interesting read): https://lithub.com/color-or-fruit-on-the-unlikely-etymology-of-orange/

Thursday was a good day. I ran in the morning, which was mostly rubbish as my carefully planned route included a dead end and I had to do a load of backtracking. What was good though was that another runner came past me and called out "come on, nearly at the top now". I started running and caught up with him, and we ended up having a nice chat for the next mile or so before our paths diverged again. Work was busy, but it was nice to see people in the office. We went to the pub at lunchtime, and that was really nice to do as pubs here have been closed since Christmas and only reopened this week. In the evening I heated up a pizza and garlic bread, and we played Pathfinder. It was a really chilled session, with the party each having their own little roleplay encounters as we get ready for the next leg of the adventure. My bloodrager, Urah, went with our brawler, Tarn, to try and get Tarn a magical tattoo. Tarn is a particularly odd character, and had managed to terrify the tattoo mage into turning him away, so he asked for Urah's help. Now Urah's charismatic, but he's a great big, hulking, barbarian-type character and he usually uses that charisma for intimidation rather than diplomacy (mechanically he has +3 to diplomacy rolls, and +20 to intimidation rolls - +3 is not very good in Pathfinder!). It was fun to try and play the character in a way that felt true, but also didn't bugger up Tarn's plans for a magic item. Protein, check-in, and workout done, but teeth not done. * * * Yesterday was also a good day. At Crossfit we had jerk singles, and I worked up to 62.5kg (~138#) on those. At the moment I'm happy with whatever numbers I'm hitting after so much time off, but that feels like it's pretty good for me generally. We followed that with a load of incline dumbbell bench press and rope pullups. I really struggled to get going at work, for some reason I was really distracted all day. At the end of the day we had our team Friday night drinks, so it was nice to see a few more people there. In the evening WW cooked cauliflower and potato curry. It was really nice, but somehow we didn't get much of the cauliflower flavour through which was a bit confusing. We watched a load of TV, drank beer, and I stayed up a bit late. Protein, check-in, and workout done, but teeth not done. (Again with the teeth! I need to get my head in the game with this.) * * * Plans for this weekend are long run today, unpacking lots of boxes, bouldering tomorrow morning, Ranger D&D in the afternoon, and more box unpacking.

'Let the okay times roll' might just be my new favourite phrase